“My live shows and one of my big songs of the year ‘Boneless’ (Steve Aoki with Chris Lake &amp; Tujamo).”

Tune of the year:

“Imagine Dragons ‘Radioactive’.”

From:

“The most important thing is that there’s not one promoter just taking all the money and then giving a small percentage to DJs. If the artist is driving the audience to the show, the artist should be making the majority right? It would be fucked if a promoter took the majority of the money.”

Have DJs' fees got out of hand?:

“I don’t think so because pop is always driven by a big vocal hook while you could say the majority of dance music is driven by the actual music and the beat. Of course there’s a very small minority of dance music that breaks into the radio. With pop it’s a necessity to break radio if you want to succeed, in dance you don’t need the radio at all.”

Has dance music become the new pop?:

“I’d be a winged monkey. Because I love the idea of flying and they love having sex and eating.”

If you could be any animal, what would you be?:

“I don’t give a fuck what you do. You want to do heart hands, do heart hands. If you’re having a fucking good time and you want to express yourself, you do it in your own way.”

Should DJs do "heart hands":

“I respect people that do because it’s not cool, in the general perspective of what cool is, to say, ‘Say no to drugs’. The thing is, there’s very little education on the misuse of drugs. You can’t stop these people if they’re going to do it but at least educate them.”

Do DJs have a duty to speak out about drugs?:

I’d have a spaceship and also an Iron Man suit. Then I could just fly wherever I wanted at a gig. Maybe four of those so I can have one for my whole crew.”

Steve Aoki’s stock has risen once again over the past 12 months as he continues to perform the biggest, most audacious EDM sets across the globe and pump out his stomping, strutting electro house productions. Yes, he throws cake at the crowd and sometimes rides a rubber dinghy over their heads, but he’s also played to hundreds of thousands of people in 2013, not a feat many other DJs can say they’ve achieved.

“One of the most proud moments of my life happened this year when I got nominated for a Grammy for my album [2012’s ‘Wonderland’],” says Steve. “That was like a big, big deal. I slaved over that album and I did not at all expect it to be nominated for a Grammy.

“As far as live touring, Tomorrowland was by far one of my most proud moments. Closing the main stage on day three, closing up the entire festival was just an incredible feeling. I felt totally comfortable with the crowd. It was just one of the best sets.

”Having spent much of the year touring outside of the US, Steve is currently in the midst of his Aokify America tour, with Waka Flocka, Borgore and a certain Pharrell Williams in tow. “We’re hitting bigger shows, bigger venues,” says the Dim Mak label owner.

On the production front, following on the heels of Chris Lake and Tujamo collaboration ‘Boneless’ and the Linkin Park hook-up, ‘A Light That Never Comes’, there’s a string of releases planned before the year’s out. These include ‘Bring You the Life’, a “very progressive” track, and collaborations with Flux Pavilion, R3hab and Borgore. But Steve’s love of constant touring has meant adapting his approach to production.

“I’ve started producing on the road,” he reveals. “I feel like my production the last year-and-a-half has fucking grown tenfold, a hundredfold. I’m just so proud of the new songs that are going to be coming out and my album, ‘Neon Future’. It’s my best work.”

The album is due out next year, hopefully in the springtime. When asked what’s behind his ongoing stardom, Steve humbly responds, “The source of the success is my relationship with my fans. Without them I wouldn’t even be a blink of an eye as a DJ.”